50 PEOPLE packed into a House of Commons Committee room on March 26 at a meeting organised by London Region MSF to discuss how trade unions should relate to Blair's New Labour Party. Jeremy Corbyn MP and Hugh McGrillen, Regional Secretary addressed the meeting.
Individual trade unionists have been part of many discussions whether the left should stay and fight in the Labour Party or whether we should begin to prepare for a new party. However this is the first such meeting I heard of actually organised by a union.
Yet the fight within individual unions is time and again hampered by the "new realism" of its leaders - the very ideology of partnership with the bosses than Blair himself has made an art form. If there is to be the creation of a democratic re-alignment to the left of Blair then this. must involve significant forces from the unions.
Blair is destroying the collective voice of the unions through the 'modernisation' of the Labour Party. All trade union activists whether or not they are individual members of the Labour Party must be concerned about how to develop a collective political expression for their demands and campaigns. As expected a range of different views were expressed - although no one had a good word to say for Mr Blair. Corbyn was warmly received when he pointed out. that Frank Field's cry of 'responsibility' rather misses the mark, since it is socialists who believe in collective provision precisely because they are responsible for all in society. There was also consensus that the left needed to step up the fight inside the unions. Other issues were more contentious. There was a discussion about the extent to which New Labour is the product of deeper changes, of the process of globalisation, and the fact that social democracy has no more crumbs to throw to the working class whether it wants to our not. The discussion as to whether people should remain individual members of the Labour Party was somewhat separate from this, and obviously people will make their own choices on this question. For some at least it seemed that the major barrier to leaving the party they had spent their active lives building was as much emotional as anything. For others the lack of an obvious alternative meant that they were holding on to their party cards but with little conviction there was much point.
The final area of debate was the extent to which the union's political fund should continue to be given exclusively to the Labour Party. Many felt that in the present situation at least a portion of those resources could be better spent on direct campaigning by the union. All in all, this was a positive exchange and one that not only needs to be further explored by London MSF but deserves emulation by other trade union bodies.